Wednesday, July 10, 2013

The papal "Boat Altar"

The refugees, the migrants had the Pope visit them on Lampedusa the other day.

He celebrated a penitential Mass on an altar constructed in the form of a boat, reminiscent of the boat carrying migrants who drowned when it was shipwrecked. The altar was a humble gesture, a reminder, a votive offering from the poor, in honor of the poorest of the poor. Christ was crucified upon such an altar, the crucifix was a contemptuous, disgraceful instrument of death, made from unrefined, crude timber. The suffering Christ was condemned as a criminal, he was filthy, sweaty, bloody, a man others looked away from in disgust, despised and lowly, held in no esteem... Before execution, he was presented to the jeering crowd, 'tackily' dressed as a mock king, with a 'corny' crown of thorns.

Christ visited the refugees, the migrants, the homeless survivors on Lampedusa the other day.

I was trying to express my skepticism over equating actions that one may take to those which Christ would take. That cuts all ways, including towards those who are mocking the Pope or are critical of him. I'm sure he's doing what he thinks Christ would do. I don't have to agree, but I also have no idea what Jesus would do. It cuts all ways.

Oh. I wasn't equating the Pope's visit with that notion - not in the least. My sense is that the Pope is Vicar of Christ - I do not have to even ask WWJD. The Pope celebrated Mass amongst the migrants - Christ is in the Eucharist - Christ visited the poor in a special way that day.

My reference to the mocking of Christ had nothing to do with the Pope - I was referring to the critics of the form of the altar - who called it tacky and corny. I pointed out that Christ was dressed in tacky cloak and crowned with corny crown, his altar was a rough hewn wooden cross. I wasn't asking WWJD. I'm sure the Pope had absolutely nothing to say or do as regards the vestments of his concelebrants - which in this case I could care less about - nor would he have concerned himself over the altar construction.

My point is that people who have nice churches, nice marble altars, beautiful vestments and capes, and gorgeous crucifixes made of precious woods or metals, who are comfortable in their padded pews, who travel at will and strive to accumulate enough to live luxuriously, obviously can feel comfortable enough to criticize a refugee camp boat altar as tacky and corny. They mock the poor. The rich mock the poor. The barrios and favelas are tacky - and they look down on those who live there.

I don't think people know when to stop sometimes, I think we can be arrogant in our religious preferences.

I don't think the Pope being the Vicar of Christ means that everything the Pope does is an expression of what Jesus would do. We only know for sure what God wills through a Pope by virtue of his charism - the charism of the office.

Simcha's point is that asking, truly, WWJD is a question of personal discernment, not a ready-made recipe. And it cuts through all kinds of criticism and pre-conceived notions of what that may be. What a particular person does in one situation may be different than another (excepting of course those situations in which discernment isn't necessary).

Also, I must have misinterpreted because in writing about the poor altar/the offering of the poor, and then the Pope making you uncomfortable and being a Pope of the Poor, that it was about more than the altar - it was about the Pope himself too.

While writing this post I had in mind Crescat's post about the Pope's lack of popishness. The Pope sometimes makes me uncomfortable by what he says at daily Mass - sometimes - I also miss some of the monarchist trappings of the papacy - not on Lampedusa to be sure - but in liturgies and appearances at St. Peter's. But that is personal preference. Style-wise, I wish he'd wear black rather than white because I don't like seeing his trousers through the summer weight sutane. No big deal - he's a slob.

Though I wrote he can make me feel uncomfortable, I was also suggesting others - along with myself - examine their own lives rather than picking on the Pope for not giving them the consolations they feel they need, or measuring up to our ecclesial fashion expectations.

Simcha's reference to WWJD is lost on me. I'm more interested in what Jesus did do. Cardinal Dolan doesn't impress me, so the post was doubly lost on me.

Without doubt, my impression of the Pope's visit is my own - obviously no one else got the same impression, nor were they perceptive of the snobby attitude some people took regarding the liturgical celebration. Perhaps because it was without fanfare and expensive set design.

I applied the title Vicar of Christ in this case in the same sense one uses in persona Christi for the priest - when the priest acts at Mass and the sacraments, he acts in persona Christi. The Bishop who has the fullness of the priesthood acts in persona Christi and is also the vicar of Christ. The Pope is a Bishop.

Do I come off as an exclusive, strict ultramontanist? I am Catholic because I believe in the supremacy of the papacy - I love the Pope. I recently commented on Crescat that I think the daily homilies and everything Francis says and does gets a little excessive. In other words, sound bites can be discomforting. I even complained of that with Benedict and JPII - I really got tired of all the JPII encyclicals and exhortations and allocutions which were non-stop during his papacy. Benedict was always quoted on every little utterance - sometimes to the point I thought, 'who cares?' Anyway - I don't perceive everything they say as being divinely inspired or dictated.

Finally, a pastoral visit such as Francis' first excursion is very significant for so many reasons, the last thing someone should waste their time on is how Mass was celebrated and what the hell the pope wore or what the altar looked like.

What Jesus did do is used sometimes as a stick against those who do something today, in their specific, concrete context, that doesn't jive with the stick-bearer's conception of what Jesus would do if He was in that specific, concrete context. It's an application of what Jesus did do onto a situation Jesus was not in (i.e. Cardinal Dolan dining with Obama).

Simcha's point was that it's ridiculous to judge someone else's 'imitation of Christ' because, at least: 1) we aren't in their shoes; 2) Jesus was never specifically in their shoes and so no cookie cutter example of how to be Christ there exists.

I brought her writing up here because I disagree with those who mock the Pope (based on an event like this), but also, at least theoretically, those who would praise him as if He is truly - and exclusively - doing what Jesus would do. In other words, the point cuts both ways - it can cut a lot of ways.

I don't share Crescat's longing for popishness but I do share her frustration with the implication that 'humble' Pope Francis is a relief after 'not-humble' Pope Benedict.

I, for one, am not happy with something like this.When first reading the title, I wondered why the Pope needed to do anything on a boat. I remembered more about the women who were "ordained" on the Danube not so many years ago.

I do hope that Pope Francis will soon bother to worry about ensuring that his bishops and priests make serious efforts at teaching, preaching, and living the faith.I'm growing VERY weary of all this effort to make symbol show so much over substance.

I'm getting tired of being jolted by every group who wish to show themselves "marginalized". I and millions of others have long been starved of substance and serious consequences of faith.

If His Holiness wishes to make the faith relevant, I'd appreciate if he'd insist on taking the rubrics of the Mass seriously and even requiring bishops to USE canon law. We could be a very different society if they'd simply start insisting that tenets of Catholic faith be honored in everyday life.

Yes Christ was crucified on a rough ugly cross, by those that despised him!Not so sure that He chose to go that way as much as He allowed it.I would submit that since has now risen to His Glory we should Glorify Him!I fail to see how a silly boat and tie dye chasubles Glorify Him. But what do I know?

..."it is the Mass! I might be prepared to look at a new Mass form if it magnified God still more and exalted Him still higher; if it lowered man still further in the imagination of his heart; if the mysteries appeared more wondrous and the doctrines more luminous; if the language was more noble and the images grander. But look what we have been given: the exaltation of man and the humiliation of God; the evacuation of mystery, and ambiguity in doctrine; the flattest of images in pidgin vernacular."

I'm not convinced the comparison between the field Mass celebrated (Ad Orientem) on the hood of a jeep, or a make-shift altar on two barrels can be made with the conscious choice of using a "boat style" altar. The options during war time are limited to what one has at hand. It would appear in this case that there is a conscious decision to use a "boat style" altar by whoever makes those decisions. There is a world of difference between "noble simplicity" where the vestments, altar, music and decorum etc are dignified, reverent, uplifting and worthy representations of what the holy sacrifice of the Mass is: the unbloody sacrifice of calvary as opposed to an occasion where "we gather, we listen, we respond" . Can we truly say that the liturgical minimalism so endemic to most celebrations of the Novus Ordo adequately convey to all present that we are indeed thereby present at Calvary? Doesn't God deserve the most beautiful vestments, music and liturgy we can give Him? I'm not advocating for an orchestra, trained choir singing Mozart's coronation Mass (though it wouldn't hurt)...What would be wrong with using Paul VI's "gift to the Church" the "Jubilate Deo song book"? Wherein the very minimum of Gregorian chant all Catholics should know is to be found. What would be wrong with simple, tasteful vestments? What would be wrong with people kneeling (every knee shall bow and every tongue confess) on the ground to receive the Lord of Lords? One doesn't have to be an aesthetic snob to see this sort of liturgy could have been a more clear expression of Catholic liturgical piety.

FEEDJIT Live Traffic Feed

Holy Face of Jesus

Show us your face and we shall be saved. "Each soul is the object of My special love. That is why I am so grateful to those who are resourceful and bringing back sinners to Me. Keep this in mind then. I gave My life for them in the most atrocious torture, for these poor beloved ones. A humble repentance, and they are already on My heart. So speak gently to them. Speak with tenderness. A brusque remark could drive them farther away." - He and I

Share It

Site meter

Prayer to St. Michael

Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the malice and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him we humbly pray; and do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly host, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen.

Disclaimer

I declare that I have no intent to acknowledge, distribute or encourage anything contrary to Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition and the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church and the Apostolic See. I submit myself and all the contents of this blog to the judgment of the Church.

... ... ...

Email Policy: Please Note: This Site Adheres to the Welborn Protocol: All correspondence is blogable unless you specifically request otherwise.